Trouble
by Numb3rsfan
Summary: A routine day at Station 51 goes awry during one 'simple' rescue at an amusement park.
1. The Rescue

**Emergency**

**Title: Trouble.**

**Author: Numb3rsfan**

**Rating: PG-13**

**Author's Notes: There are slight mentions of character and actor names from the television show Dukes of Hazzard, in this story.**

**Warnings: Angst.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Emergency, never have, never will.**

**Summary: A routine day at Station 51 goes awry during one 'simple' rescue at an amusement park.**

Chapter One.

Roy sat down on the bench and grabbed his shoe, just as his partner and best friend Johnny Gage came walking in with a smile on his face and a spring to his step.

'_Oh, here we go again.'_ Roy thought as he resisted the urge not to roll his eyes at his partner, who stopped in front of his locker and opened the door.

"I take it you had a good week." Roy guessed, deciding to tempt fate and just hope John wouldn't go blabbing his whole week vacation to him in one long string of sentences.

"Did I have a good week? I had the best!" John replied with a smile as he unbuttoned his uniform, took it off of the metal hanger and put it on before buttoning it back up.

"Well, that's great." Roy said as he finishing tying his shoe and stood up from the bench.

"Yeah, can't wait to tell you all about it." John said, flashing that charming smile of his that would either send any female nurse flocking to Johnny's side, or it would earn Johnny a slap in the face from some nurse that he had pushed to far.

"Yeah well, tell me about your marvelous day later. Right now we got roll call." Roy said as he all but rushed for the door and yanked it open before Johnny had a chance to say anything.

John watched his partner go; wondering what was the matter with him.

"That was odd." He muttered as he put on his own shoes and tightened the laces before closing his locker door and heading out to join the line up, just as Captain Hank Stanley exited the office with the ever present slight frown on his face.

"Alright men, let's get started. Stoker, Lopez, you guys got the dorms. Roy, kitchen. Gage hose room and mop the bay floor. Kelly you got the latrine. Make it spotless this time, not that streaky mess that you called clean, last time." Hank said as he looked his men up and down.

With a nod, Hank turned and went back to his office while Mike Stoker and Marco Lopez went to clean and tidy up the dorms, Roy went to clean and tidy up the kitchen, John went to the hose room to put the hose back in their proper place, before getting the ever loved mop, bucket and soap out, while Kelly wrinkled his nose and trudged to the latrine to clean it, yet again.

John had just replaced the first set of hose when the tones sounded.

"SQUAD 51, CHILD TRAPPED IN SINKHOLE, 46 AND WOODMONT, 46 AND WOODMONT. CROSS STREET VERNON. TIME OUT 09:26."

Leaving the rest of the hoses, John raced for the squad, quickly jumping in to the passenger seat while Roy climbed in after taking the slip of paper from Mike Stoker, who had written the address down.

While Marco opened the bay door, Mike grabbed the mic and said, "Squad 51, 10-4, KMG-365."

Turning, Mike and Marco watched as Squad 51 roared out of the bay and made a quick left.

"46 and Woodmont, that's just two miles away." John said as he directed Roy through a series of shortcuts that helped them shave off four minutes if they were to take the long way.

Quickly pulling to a stop right beside an old two story house, John and Roy quickly saw the sinkhole.

It was hard to miss, being about the size of a minivan and about as deep as the deep end of a swimming pool.

As quickly as they could, Roy and John exited the squad and opened up the side compartment; grabbing their gear before rushing over to the lip of the sinkhole.

Looking down, John and Roy could clearly see the small boy curled around a piece of concrete, right smack dab in the middle of the sinkhole.

"I'm going down." John remarked as he ran back to the squad and grabbed the coil of rope.

Handing the rope to Roy, John quickly grabbed a piece of the rope and made it in to a sort of noose, before tightening his hold on it and walking back over to the length of the sinkhole.

"Ready?" He asked his partner after a minute.

"Whenever you are." Roy shot back as he tightened his hold on the rope in his hands.

With a sigh, John carefully eased himself over the lip of the sinkhole, and carefully began to climb down.

It was hard work with the loose dirt slipping all around his feet, making it quite hard to get any kind of traction, but soon he was at the bottom, with a thin sheen of sweat just beading on his brow.

Letting go of the rope, John quickly made his way over to the boy, who hadn't moved a muscle ever since they had arrived.

"Son, can you hear me?" John asked as he dropped down next to the boy and put a comforting hand on the boy's shoulder.

When no answer came, John carefully moved the boy on to his back, before speaking again.

"Son, can you hear me?" John asked again.

This time however, the boy was semi awake and slightly aware of his surroundings.

"Y..yeah. Can hear..ya." The boy muttered as he struggled to blink in the early morning sunlight.

"What's your name?" John asked as he turned and signaled to Roy to bring down the biophone, splint, and drug box.

"Ben….Ben Jones." The little boy muttered as a wave of pain swept through him.

"Alright Ben, now I know you're in a lot of pain, but I'm going to need you to stay as still as you can." John said soothingly as he watched his partner, Roy, slowly lower the biophone.

Rising, Johnny walked over and grabbed the orange box and untied it, before walking back over to Ben and putting the biophone on the ground.

"What…that?" Ben asked through gritted teeth as he glanced at the biophone which John was just opening up.

"It's a biophone. Let's me talk to the hospital." John replied as he opened the box, grabbed the small antenna and fit it in to place, before rising again and going back over to the side of the sinkhole and unhooking the drug and splint box from the rope, and bringing the two boxes over to Ben.

Opening up the drug box, John withdrew the stethoscope and BP cuff.

Putting the end part of the stethoscope to Ben's chest, John listened to the boy's heart for a second, before taking his BP.

Once that was done, John leaned over and grabbed the biophone.

"Rampart this is Squad 51. Rampart this is Squad 51." John said in to the receiver as he jotted down the boy's vitals on his notepad using his green pen.

"Squad 51, this is Rampart. Go ahead." Dr. Kel Brackett said moments later.

"Rampart we have a male child, approximately 9 years old. Victim of a fall attributed to a sinkhole." John began.

"Repeat that 51. A sinkhole?" Kel asked, not sure if he had heard John correctly.

Sinkhole's were not that uncommon, but usually no one was injured from falling in to a sinkhole.

"That's an affirmative. Child seems to have suffered a broken rib. His vitals signs are: BP 90/60, pulse 90 and thready. Eyes are equal and sluggish, but reactive. He seems to be slipping in and out of consciousness." John said as he watched Ben struggle to keep his eyes open.

"51, suspected head injury. Immobilize the head and start him on an IV, Ringers Lactate TKO. Put him on twelve liters 02 and bring him in here as fast as you can." Dr. Brackett calmly ordered as he bent over the transmitter.

"10-4. IV, Ringers Lactate, TKO. Twelve liters 02." Johnny recited before he reached in and grabbed an IV set up and the plastic bag of Ringers.

"Roy! I'm gonna need the 02!" Johnny shouted, before he leaned over and swabbed down Ben's arm.

"Now Ben, this is going to sting a little." Johnny warned.

"Don't…care." Ben muttered back, before he grimaced as John plunged the needle in and taped it there, before hooking in the IV.

Looking back up, John was surprised to see not only Roy but the rest of Station 51 there as well.

Captain Stanley was directing Marco and Chet who began to lower a stokes and the 02, while right behind them an ambulance was just pulling to a stop.

"Don't worry Ben, we'll have you out of here in no time." Johnny reassured as he glanced at the boy, but Ben had already passed out.

Swallowing uneasily, Johnny glanced back up and rose up to grab the stokes once it was low enough to the ground.

Reaching in, Johnny quickly took the bottle of 02 and the face mask, completely ignoring the stokes while he went back to Ben and slipped the 02 face mask over the boy's face and turned on the air.

Next Johnny eased Ben over and carefully deposited the boy on to the stokes, carefully placing the IV at Ben's side, and the air bottle between Ben's legs.

"Alright, take em' up!" Johnny called as he stepped back.

Slowly and with great care the stokes was pulled up, before the rope came back down.

With a slight sigh, Johnny grabbed the rope and with the help of Mike, he managed to pull himself up and walk over to Roy who was already helping to place Ben on a gurney and transport him over to Rampart.

"Johnny, I'll go ahead and ride on in with him." Roy said to his partner, before turning and hopping in to the back of the ambulance seconds before the ambulance attendant shut the door and raced around to the front.

Seconds later the ambulance was roaring off, heading towards Rampart Emergency, leaving John to go back down the sinkhole and collect the gear, which he did with only a limited amount of groaning.

Two trips later, John was back up top and wrapping up the rope, while the engine crew of Station 51 hopped back on the rig and took off heading back to the station, leaving John standing there alone.

'_Now I know why I like to ride in with the victim.'_ John thought as he stashed the rope and equipment and hopped in to the driver's side, before taking off, heading for Rampart Emergency.


	2. The mess up

Trouble Chapter 2

By the time Johnny pulled to a stop at Rampart Emergency, the ambulance had been there for several minutes. It's back doors were still wide open as Johnny exited the squad and went inside, looking for his partner.

Walking down the short hallway in to the main part of the hospital, Johnny looked around and spotted Roy leaning up against the wall, HT unit in hand.

Walking towards his partner, Johnny quickly saw and read the lines of worry etched in to Roy's features.

_'Rule number one Roy. Never get emotionally involved with a patient...'_ Johnny thought, before he nearly stopped and smirked at himself, _'Now why can't I take my own advice?'_

Johnny would never really admit how much he was worried about Ben Jones to anyone, except Roy, because that went to show how much he trusted his partner.

"Roy, hows'...how's Ben?" Johnny asked once Roy had spotted him.

"Doctor Brackett's in there with him now. He said that aside from the broken rib, head injury and probable internal injury, Ben was sporting a fractured leg. How come you didn't follow through with the leg splint?" Roy asked.

"I..." Johnny said, thinking back to the accident.

He remembered requesting and Roy lowering down the leg splint, but Johnny had completly forgotten to put it on the kid's leg, like he was supposed to.

Sure Johnny had seen that Ben's leg was broken, but he had forgotten to but the splint on his leg...he had forgotten!

Johnny looked back up at Roy, who was still waiting for him to answer.

Slowly Johnny shook his head and sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't know Roy...I guess I forgot."

"Johnny, in this business we can't afford to 'just forget' something like that! The people out there are counting on us to do our job and do it right!" Roy said, angry at his partner for forgetting something that could have been quite vital to Ben's care.

Hanging his head, Johnny walked down the hall and made a left, heading for the exit doors and the awaiting rescue squad for station 51.

Sighing, Roy knew how Johnny felt. Heck, when Roy had been in training, he had forgotten to administer the 02 to the victim! Thankfully the 'victim' had been a dummy, but the mistake had been made.

The instructer had given Roy a talking too, after that little incident, but in the end, Roy had walked away a little wiser for his mistake. But of course, the instructer hadn't come down on Roy like a ton of bricks either. He had calmly and kindly spoken to Roy of his mistake, and how they couldn't afford to make mistakes in the job they were in.

Roy, while trying to pass on what the instructer had told him, only seemed to aggrivate the situation even more by yelling at his partner and making Johnny feel lower than a snake's belly.

Roy followed Johnny and turned the corner just in time to see the exit doors close, but that was as far as he got as the HT unit in his hand suddenly started beeping, forcing Roy to stay where he was so he could hear.

"SQUAD 51. PEOPLE TRAPPED. 129 SHELBY ROAD. 129 SHELBY ROAD. CROSS STREET ROSE. TIME OUT 10:31."

"Squad 51, 10-4." Roy replied as he started to jog the rest of the way outside.

Knowing that Johnny would already have the address down, Roy had dashed to the door of the squad before stopping.

Since Johnny had forgotten the splint, it would be possible to have forgotten the address as well.

With Sam's instructions running through his mind, Roy flipped out his little notebook and quickly wrote down the address before ripping off the page and tucking the notebook back in to his shirt pocket.

Opening the door of the squad, Roy slipped in and handed the address to Johnny, who already had a similar piece of paper in his hand, with the exact same address on it.

Johnny took the paper from Roy and glanced at it, before he shot Roy a slightly hurt look.

Roy ignored the look and started up the squad before flipping on the lights and siren and high tailing it out of Rampart.

----------------------

They pulled up to the scene and jumped out of the squad before running to the side of the squad and grabbing the equipment.

An older gentlemen who was standing on the sidewalk, wringing his hands together, finally approached Johnny and Roy and said, "Oh please, you gotta help them! They're trapped!"

"Ok, hold on Mr. ?" Roy asked, turning to look at the older man, leaving Johnny to grab most of the equipment out of the squad.

"Crenshaw. Pat Crenshaw." The older man said as he glanced at the hotel to his left.

"Ok, Mr. Crenshaw. Who's trapped and where?" Roy calmly asked as he tried to make eye contact with Pat, who was clearly close to losing it.

Swiftly Pat pointed to the hotel and said, "The elevator. A father and his little boy are trapped! When the old elevator car stopped between the first floor and the basement, the old floor of the car must have given way because..." Pat said, before Johnny inturrupted him.

"Wait, you mean they are at the bottom of the shaft?" Johnny asked, not really believing the old man, who nodded his head.

Johnny and Roy exchanged glances as they followed Pat inside and to the closed elevator doors.

"Kay Johnny, let's pry em' open." Roy said, fitting a smaller tool inbetween the cracks and pulling hard on one side while Johnny pulled hard on the other.

Slowly the doors opened, and moved back, showing less than half of the interior of the car.

Seeing that the 'opening' was to small for Roy to fit through, Johnny took off his helmet and laid it down before laying down and sticking his head through the small opening, just far enough where he could see the bottom of the car, before he gently eased his head back out of the crack and turned to face his partner.

"Mr. Crenshaw was right. The floor did give away. There's a hole right in the middle of the car." Johnny said.

"What about the floor surrounding the hole? Think it's stable enough to hold your weight?" Roy asked.

When Johnny had seen where the car was, he had known that he was the one that would have to go in, assess the condition of the two people trapped, and somehow figure out a way to get them and himself out.

"I think so, but, I could be wrong." Johnny said, looking back towards the car.

Roy sighed, before nodding his head.

"I'll call for the engine, you just get down there and see what you can do." He said.

Nodding his head, Johnny made his way over to the car and sat down, since the only way he would be getting in to the car, was if he was laying down.

Quickly Johnny took off his heavy fireman's coat and laid it down, before he himself lay down and started inching in to the car. Roy seeing this, knew that it would take Johnny at least three minutes to get in to the car, so Roy grabbed Johnny's upper torso and helped to lower him in to the car.

Once Johnny was in, Roy grabbed the HT, but not before asking, "How's it look, Johnny?"

"Well, the floor seems stable enough." Johnny replied as he made his way towards the hole in the floor, while Roy keyed the HT.

"L.A. Squad 51." Roy said, and waited for a reply.

"Squad 51, L.A."

"L.A. We need an engine to respond to our distress call." Roy said calmly as he glanced outside, before looking back over at the elevator.

"10-4. Squad 51. An engine is being dispatched." L.A. responded.

"10-4." Roy replied.

After he set the HT unit down, Roy heard Sam order Engine 51 to respond with Squad 51.

Meanwhile, Johnny was looking down the hole. Dimly he could see a man and his son sitting on the floor of the shaft.

"Hi! How're you both doing?" Johnny asked, getting their attention.

Both the man and the little boy looked up at John with relief.

"Have you come to get us out?" The little boy asked hopefully.

Johnny smiled and nodded his head, "Yep! That's why I'm here."

Looking up, Johnny said, "Roy, I'm going to need the equipment!"

Roy looked behind him and grabbed the biophone and drug box, before pushing them into the car.

It was a tight fit, but they both made it...barely.

Now, with biophone and drug box in hand, Johnny looked down and tried to think of some way to get himself and the equipment down there, unharmed.

"Mister! Just toss down your stuff! I'll catch it!" The boy said.

"I don't think..." Johnny started to say, but he stopped when he heard the father chuckle.

"My son Bo can catch anything." The father said.

Johnny didn't want to just toss down the equipment and trust that the little boy would catch it, but from the look of it. It seemed that he had no choice.

"Ok, the biophone's coming down." Johnny said as he positioned the biophone over the hole and waited until the boy nodded his head.

With a grimace Johnny released the biophone and watched as it plummeted down, only to be caught by the small hands of the little boy.

Johnny sighed with relief as he watched the little boy carefully put the biophone down, before looking back up.

Turning, Johnny grabbed the drugbox and made sure that it was shut tight, before saying, "Drug box is coming down."

Seconds later he dropped that too, and watched as Bo caught it and set it down as well.

Now that the equipment was down there, Johnny lowered himself through the hole in the floor until he was dangling from the bottom of the car.

Looking down, Johnny saw that both the father, and little Bo were out of the way, so he let go and plummeted down to land hard on the bottom of the shaft.

The wind rushed from his lungs, causing Johnny to stay where he was for several minutes.

When he was able to move again, Johnny breathed in some much needed oxygen before crawling over to the father who obviously had a broken leg.

"What's your name?" Johnny asked the man as he began to check him for other injuries.

"John...John Schneider." John said with a grimace as Johnny touched his broken leg.

"Johnny, what have you got down there?" Roy said rather loudly.

Both John Schneider and Johnny looked up at the hole above them.

"Well, the father had got a broken leg and a probable concussion. Don't know about the boy yet." Johnny replied as he gestured for Bo to come over to him.

Bo walked over and sat down as Johnny quickly checked him over and found nothing save for a few bruises and cuts.

"Johnny! Engine crew's here now." Roy announced after Johnny had finished checking the boy over.

Nodding, Johnny sighed and went over to the biophone.

After lugging it over to John, Johnny set it down and quickly took John's pulse and checked his pupils for reaction.

Not having the BP cuff, Johnny couldn't check John's BP. Knowing that Dr. Brackett wouldn't be really happy with that, Johnny opened up the biophone and attached the small antenna to it, and prayed that the signal could reach the hospital.

"Rampart, this is Squad 51. Rampart, this is Squad 51." Johnny said.

He waited several seconds before he tried again, getting the same results.

"I...didn't break it...did I?" Bo asked, getting scared that no one was answering Johnny.

Johnny looked over at the frightened boy and shook his head. "No you didn't break it. Something's interfering with the signal." He replied.

Looking up, Johnny said, "Roy! I can't raise the hospital. The man needs his leg splinted, and he needs a bag of Ringers."

"Ok, Johnny." Roy replied seconds later.

"Johnny."

Recognizing the Cap's voice, Johnny looked up.

"We're going to try and cut through the very top of the car. Just hang tight." Cap said.

"Right Cap!" Johnny replied seconds before he heard something scraping up top and the tell tale roar of the K-12 as someone, probably Mike Stoker began to cut through the ceiling of the elevator car.

Suddenly a loud screaching filled the air causing Johnny, John and Bo to look up.

All three of them saw the elevator car coming towards them!

_'Uh oh.'_ Johnny thought as he ducked, already knowing that ducking was stupid.

As the car raced towards them, Johnny could only stare at it, and wait.


	3. Defying Death

A/N: Well, thanks everyone for being so patient with me! To reward you, here is a new chapter to my E! fic, Trouble!

Trouble Chapter 3

Swallowing, Johnny lowered his eyes before shutting them tight, expecting to feel the crushing weight of the old elevator car any second, but that didn't happen because no sooner had he shut his eyes than an ugly screeching sound occurred, before there was silence.

Barely daring to breathe, Johnny opened his eyes and looked up to see the car looming above them, finally having come to a complete stop.

Gently easing himself up, Johnny raised a hand and was barely able to graze the bottom of the car.

'_Ok..that just took ten years off of my life!'_ He thought as he went back to work..

"Johnny! Are you guys ok?!" Someone yelled.

Recognizing the captain's voice, Johnny nodded his head, even though Hank couldn't see that.

"Yeah Cap…we're just fine, but we won't be for long. If that car goes again…" Johnny said the fear very clear in his voice.

"Understood John. We're through the roof of the car…and Roy is lowering the splint right now!" Hank yelled.

Looking up, John was able to see the splint coming straight for him.

Waiting patiently, John then reached up and grasped the splint, feeling the tension on the rope weaken before it disappeared.

Kneeling down, John carefully placed the splint on John's leg before tightening it up.

"Alright. This is going to be a fast ride. I can't do anything more for you or your son here, so we're going to get you and Bo topside before we give you the bag of Ringers." John said.

Nodding, John grimaced a little as he looked up at the elevator car looming overhead.

"Fine…whatever. Just get Bo out first." John said.

"Ok." Johnny agreed as he turned to face Bo, who still looked a little white in the face from his near death experience.

"Listen Bo…we're gettin' you and your dad out of here. There's nothing to be scared of." John said.

"Yeah?...well what about that?!" Bo said, pointing up to the car.

"Well…it stopped didn't it?" John pointed out as he took the rope in his hands and began tying the appropriate knots that would form a sort of 'chair' for Bo to sit in.

"What's to keep it from going again?!" Bo asked.

"Nothing…which is why we should hurry." Johnny replied evenly, as he raised his hand and motioned for Bo to step closer.

Doing so, Johnny slid the rope around Bo's legs and raised it up a little before tightening it.

"Alright guys….pull him up!" Johnny yelled.

He watched as Bo clung to the rope; seeing the boy's scared expression as the rope went tout and he moved upward, inch by inch.

As he waited, Johnny turned back to see John, his eyes never leaving his son as strong hands took the boy and raised him through and up, out of the car.

Sighing, John lowered his gaze a little as the call came to warn Johnny that the rope was coming down again.

"We're almost out of here." Johnny mumbled, hoping to comfort John as he tied the rope around him, much like he did with Bo.

"If I get out of this…I'm never getting on another elevator again!" John whispered, before he looked at Johnny.

Chuckling, Johnny tightened the rope before standing up.

"Alright guys, haul em' up." He said, seconds before the rope went tout and John was inched up through the car and up, out of the shaft.

When the victims were gone, Johnny gathered the equipment and stood, ready for the rope to come down again, but just as he saw Roy's face looking down at him, ready to throw him the life saving rope, Johnny's worst nightmare came true, as the car started to move again.

'_Not again!'_ Johnny thought as he curled up in a ball, as the car came down on top of him.

As it hit bottom, everyone up top threw themselves away from the door, seconds before the loud crunch sounded and the dust billowed up from the open doors of the first floor.

Waving the smoke away from his face, Roy immediately looked down to see what was left of the car, and to his amazement, he saw a figure curled up in a ball, smack dab in what had been the middle of the car.

The hole that had failed and had caused the boy and his father to plummet down in to the shaft, had saved Johnny's life, and had caused the car to fall all around John, but not directly on top of him!

"JOHNNY!" Roy yelled, hoping against hope that his partner was still conscious.

For a moment there was nothing, before a strong cough filled the shaft and the dusty head of Johnny Gage, looked up at his partner.

"Am I dead?" Johnny asked as he shook some of the dust from his hair.

Instead of answering, Roy just slumped against the open doors for a second before he lowered the rope to Johnny.

When Johnny had grasped it and secured it, Roy and the rest of Station 51, hauled Johnny up and out of the shaft.

Johnny marveled that the ride was so fast; it was over if five seconds before of the enthusiasm of the men.

When he was out, Johnny was met with applause from the bystanders and hugs and claps on the back from the men at Station 51.

Turning to face Roy, Johnny was a bit surprised when Roy said, "Don't you ever do that to me again!"

"What did I do?" Johnny asked, really wanting to know.

"You nearly got yourself killed!" Roy replied, as he walked away to go tend to Mr. Schneider, who now had the IV started and who was hugging his son.

Shrugging his shoulders, Johnny followed Roy over to the victims and helped his partner load them up in to the waiting ambulance for the trip to Rampart.


End file.
